Hello from Egypt!

I feel like I've been traveling for ages! Here's what I've done so far:

May 4, 2010 – 7:30am
We just landed in Frankfurt, and I’ve found already that Germany is much more efficient than the US. The security check-in involved a conveyor belt and a receiving platform, and we didn’t have to take off our shoes!

The flight was good, but it seems weird to have lost our whole night the way we did. My body wants it to be 1:30am right now, but the clock here says 7:30. The sunset from the plane was nice, though. The in-seat TVs didn’t hurt, either.

I left my Egypt journal – which I have been writing since April – on the plane, and I’m totally kicking myself for it. I’ll do my best to re-write my thoughts, but it’s an unfortunate loss. The German ticket agents were helpful, though, at least as far as American ones would be. They were friendly about it. I guess I should just be happy I didn’t lose it on the return trip. The ticket agent did say I could look for it in lost and found on my return trip – we’ll see if that happens. I might chalk it up as a lost cause at that point. Airports can be so frustrating.

I visited with Grammie and Granddad on Saturday, before I left. They were very excited for me, and Granddad especially stressed that I should see myself as a citizen of the world, and that this trip is about me exploring another facet of my home. I’m still a little jittery about the whole thing, although flying over London and landing in Frankfurt made it a little more real for me. It won’t feel 100% real until I get out of the airport at Cairo, though.

Many different people have told me that this trip will significantly change me. I hope it’s for the better, and I hope it’s in a way that is still compatible with my life both in Boston and Littleton. I have a feeling that Littleton will seem even smaller than usual once I’ve been out of the country for so long.

We celebrated my birthday before I left, and Mom gave me a beautiful topaz ring. It’s a little bittersweet to be celebrating my 21^st birthday so far from home, but I’m sure we’ll have some kind of party. We’ll be touring the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Museum and Temple on my birthday, so that may be celebration enough!

May 4, 2010 – 6:33pm
Egypt is both exactly what I expected and nothing like what I expected. We just arrived at our hotel in Zamalek, and are settling in for an hour before going off in groups in search of dinner. I’m so exhausted, overwhelmed, and hungry. I’m sure it’ll be like this until I get my bearings. The city overall is much poorer than I expected, even in Zamalek, which is supposed to be the nicest part of the city. It’s just going to take a little getting used to. I took lots of pictures on our bus ride to the hotel, but professor Denis Sullivan’s historical lesson about the landmarks we were seeing (the “New” mosque, a famous Christian church – the effective “Vatican” of Egypt, etc.) went over a lot of our heads. Talk about culture shock.

Traffic in Egypt is a force to be reckoned with.

Satellite dishes everywhere!

The view from our room.

The hotel room.
















May 4, 2010 – 9:50pm
We went for a mini walking tour, and professor Sullivan showed us some good spots for money changing, food, and other necessities on the island of Zamalek. We all split up as we found places we wanted to go to, and four of us went to a pizza place (so Egyptian, I know). It was thrilling to walk the city for ourselves, and use local currency. It smells like food and gasoline here, and everything is covered in a fine layer of dust. Still, just from walking Zamalek a little, I have a better feeling about this place.

I bought a little hand made book to serve as journal #2. It seems more fitting that my journal about Egypt be one that was made here.

Tomorrow we leave for Aswan on an overnight train. We’ll be touring Aswan and then Luxor until May 10th, when we’ll return to Cairo to begin our official classes.